The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Thursday said his administration has concluded on plans to launch resident identification cards across the 18 Local Government Areas of the State to tackle insecurity.

The governor disclosed this while addressing stakeholders at the security council meeting held in Auchi, Administrative Headquarters of Etsako West LGA of Edo.

Obaseki said, “We are launching the Edo State Resident Identification System. Every resident in Edo must have an identity card. The identity card will be linked to the Biometric Verification Number so that we know who is who.

“With this, if anything happens, we can follow up. We are not saying that we will not accept visitors. We are not saying that we are going to send people away, but if you must live with us, we must know you.

He continued, “If there is a fire incident tomorrow, we can’t even get there. People will be shouting that we have lost our goods, and because we didn’t register that place as a market, we are unable to provide the facilities like water and all the things you need for people to trade there.”

“These markets never seem to close. Are markets not supposed to close? Don’t they have a closing and opening time? But these markets never close. People live there. Investigations carried out by security personnel show that all sorts of things happen there when these markets are supposed to have closed.

With this they can tackle insecurity in the State.

Noting that “By Aug. 5, all these people, we must have their phone numbers and their photographs and we have agreed to provide them additional logistics and remuneration will be offered to members of the vigilante.”